tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84346079904186404642018-03-05T23:54:56.482-07:00Michael GildayMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-60263304300059240552012-06-06T16:10:00.003-06:002012-06-07T06:35:13.823-06:00Now posting at mgilday.wordpress.comHello Everyone,<br /><div><br /></div><div>I have decided to switch over to Wordpress for my blogging needs. So, from now on, I will no longer be updating here. Take swing by&nbsp;<a href="http://mgilday.wordpress.com/">mgilday.wordpress.com</a>, take a read and leave a comment. Also, feel free to let me know if you like the new set-up or if there is anything you'd like to see appear at&nbsp;<a href="http://mgilday.wordpress.com/">mgilday.wordpress.com</a>!</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks for reading,</div><div>Michael</div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-29539568037923514282011-11-06T15:01:00.000-07:002011-11-06T15:01:44.129-07:00Experience PaysAs some of you reading this may know, we had a World Cup last weekend on home soil and I managed to put together a nice result with my teammates in the 1000m. I finished second while Charles Hamelin won and Olivier Jean finished third to complete the first Canadian sweep of a World Cup podium since 1994. I'm sorry for spoiling the story for anyone who was planning on watching the race <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Sports/Speedskating/1320161100/ID=2162673657">here</a>, or the entire CBC broadcast of the weekend <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Sports/Speedskating/Full_Events/1320377668/ID=2162661158">here</a>, but it has been a week, soooo....<br /><br />Anyways, on to an update of the weekend that was the World Cup in Saguenay. I think the best way I can describe the weekend is that experience pays. In fact the weekend felt like deja vu of the 2008 World Cup in Vancouver.<br /><br />Flashback to 2008. After failing to qualify for the final rounds in my 1500, I have a near breakdown in between races and end of having a long, long conversation with my Mum about all sorts of things, skating related and not. Following that conversation, I manage to cobble together a decent set of races in the afternoon to qualify to the final rounds in the 1000m. On Saturday I don't make it through the repechage, but gain a lot of confidence in my skating setting me up for a good day on Sunday and my first World Cup medal, a silver in the 1000m.<br /><br />Flash forward to last weekend. After a stupid mistake costs me a spot in the final rounds in the 1500 (I toed in with one to go) I am shaken a bit but manage to put together a couple good, but nervous, races and qualify for the 1000m final rounds on Sunday. On Saturday morning, I feel that I should easily qualify though the repechage and into the finals that afternoon. But I don't. Instantly in an awful mood, I storm out of the arena and go for a walk by myself. While walking, I realize the parallels between the two world cups. I realized that this years world cup was shaping up almost exactly like the one in Vancouver in 2008 and that I would be capable of good result if I could get my head back in the game. Sure enough, Sunday came around, and because I was able to draw upon my experiences from the past, I ended up with a very similar result, a silver in the 1000m.<br /><br />The World Cup in Saguenay turned out to be a resounding success. Canada did very well, winning 11 out of 26 possible medals. The crowd support was absolutely phenomenal. I have never been at a speed skating competition where they had a huge screen on a flatbed in the parking lot for people to watch the races on. Inside the arena, the noise was deafening, and I know each and every one of the skaters, Canadian or not, appreciated the noise of an educated and enthusiastic crowd.<br /><br />Lastly, I have to give a huge shout out to the organizing committee and all of the volunteers that made this event happen. The event was not only a weekend of racing, but a week long celebration of Short Track. The bar has been set very high and I would like to say thanks for the great weekend Saguenay!MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-40241390469212749292011-10-26T17:32:00.000-06:002011-11-03T13:23:04.504-06:00Update Time!With one World Cup under my belt this season, I figured it was time for an update. I'm writing this from my hotel room in Chicoutimi, Quebec, which seems like a different universe than where we were last week, Salt Lake City.<br /><br />With the first two World Cups being in North America, I think most of the team was expecting, and hoping, that the travel to and from wouldn't be too long or hard. Well we figured wrong. As we found out, Salt Lake and Chicoutimi are not the easiest places to travel between. But more on that in a bit.<br /><br />Travel to Salt Lake from Montreal was relatively easy though, and despite a 3:30am wake up call, we all arrived in Salt Lake ready for our first World Cup of the season. For me, the week of training leading in the competition went pretty well. As per usual I had some problems in the first few days with the altitude (Salt Lake is around 1300m, Montreal close to sea level). But other than that I was enjoying late season summer weather (seriously do clouds exist in Salt Lake??) and feeling ready to race. I was planning on racing a 1500m and a 1000m, but due to a small registration snafu, I ended doing a 500m instead of a 1000m. Not a big deal since I need practice at 500m anyways.<br /><br />Friday's qualification rounds went alright, I managed to qualify easily in the 1500, but had to wait and see if my time was good enough in the 500. Luckily it was and I was qualified straight to the rounds in both of my distances.<br /><br />On Saturday we had the finals of the 1500 and for me it went pretty well. While I didn't end up on the podium (I finished 5th), I am still satisfied with my race as I was well positioned the entire time and I was aggressive from start to finish, something I have been working on. <br /><br />Sunday brought the 500m finals, and it didn't go quite so well. I was penalized in the quarter finals which meant my day was over individually. Luckily though, we still had to the relay to go. It was one of the more chaotic races I have ever been involved in as there were five teams and I got us off to a bad start by losing the start badly - oops!. Anyways, we managed to make some timely passes and get some good exchanges in while staying on our feet, and eeked out a solid win to finish the weekend.<br /><br />With that, we wrapped up the first World Cup and got ready to head to Chicoutimi for stop #2. This is where the part about travel comes in. Turns out that traveling between Salt Lake and Chicoutimi is not easy. Actually its probably easier and cheaper to fly to Europe from any major city in Canada than travel between Salt Lake and Chicoutimi. Monday, our travel day, started off with bus to the airport at 6:30am and finished at 12:45am that night. In between that we had a flight to Montreal via Minneapolis, a fight with line ups in customs and traffic jams in Montreal and a five and a half hour bus ride from Montreal to Chicoutimi. An 18 hour travel day, but we made it!<br /><br />So that brings us to this week. Chicoutimi is a shock from warm and sunny Salt Lake (its about 3 degrees and rainy here), but we are excited for our home World Cup. For those who want to watch, CBC is showing the world cup this weekend all across the country. I'm not sure of the exact times, but I'll try to post the times on my twitter page once I know!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-2618347119610908102011-10-11T19:05:00.002-06:002011-10-11T19:05:24.693-06:00Video TuesdayToday for Video Tuesday, I'm going to share another of my favorite all time videos: the mens relay from the 2010 Olympics. Most of the readership knows who won this race. If you don't I won't spoil it for you. This race, and the whole Olympics in fact, were bittersweet for me, since I had missed qualifying for the team by so little. But there is a reason why I have posted relay videos two weeks in a row. They are unbelievably exciting and definitely the best part of Short Track. This race was the definition of execution by my teammates and I was screaming at my TV while watching it. Enjoy.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XgpMBEN6at0" width="560"></iframe><br /><br />P.S This is the video of the entire event and includes the B final as well as post race stuff. The actual A final itself starts at 19:00 so you can just skip to there if you like.MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-90806887957155079102011-10-04T18:46:00.000-06:002011-10-04T18:46:29.521-06:00Video TuesdayAnd the new content onslaught continues!<br /><br /><i>Its another new series! Starting this Tuesday, and hopefully continuing every Tuesday, I am going to post a video that is a favorite of mine. Most of the time the videos will be skating or skating related. Enjoy.</i><br /><br /><br />This week, since its the first week, I'm going to put up two videos. The first video is the Men's 5000m Relay A final from the 2011 World Cup #4 in Shanghai China. This race is one of my favorites for a number of reasons. First of all, this relay was the first time that I was skating in the anchor position. It is also the first World Cup relay final for my teammate Liam Mcfarlane. Lastly, this race is a great example of how exciting a relay can be. The race features many, many lead changes, a bunch of contact, some great passes and a great battle in the last two laps between yours truly and one of the best relay anchors in the business, Ho-Suk Lee of Korea.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BNEO4uqNJL8" width="420"></iframe><br /><br />In the second video, two of my former teammates, Gilmore Junio (behind the camera) and Tyler Derraugh (mainly in front of the camera) teach everybody about teamwork.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HuezKRaXmz0" width="560"></iframe>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-90156032946747770152011-10-02T15:25:00.000-06:002011-10-02T15:25:24.079-06:00Industry Sunday<i>Industry Sunday is a new series here at mgilday.blogspot.com. Each week (or post that comes out on Sunday - I'm not making any guarantees here!), I will address a topic specific to the sport of Short Track Speed Skating with the goal of informing, educating, starting discussion and/or editorializing.&nbsp;</i><br /><i><br /></i><br />This week, in the first installment of Industry Sunday, the topic will be my take on the new passing rule one year since it has taken effect. As you may or may not know, the International Skating Union introduced new rules last year in order to increase passing in the sport. There are many different opinions on the new rule, and although I don't have any hard figures, I would guess that in general passing during races is up. Is that a good or a bad thing? And what are some of the consequences?<br /><br />First of all, we should look at exactly what the new rule is. In previous years, the rule applied by the referees was that a skater that was leading, or more specifically, a skater that was being passed, had the right of way. In this scenario, if skater A is leading, in order for skater B to complete a successful pass, skater B would have to be sure that he executed his pass fully without interfering or impeding with skater A. Under the new rule, the skater that has the right of way, or who is in a sense protected against interference or impeding, has changed. Now, the skater with the right of way is whichever skater is in front going into the corner. This is measured at the shoulders. So going back to our scenario, Skater A is leading, and Skater B is passing. Now, if Skater B can get just his shoulders in front of Skater A, the onus shifts to Skater A to not cause any contact as he is now behind. If contact is caused by Skater A, he can be penalized since he was effectively "behind". This is applied the same way for outside and inside passes.<br /><br />Confused? Well you aren't the only one. In the the first few months of last season, there was a lot of confusion amongst the skaters, coaches and even the officials. There was a learning curve for everyone. It took time for skaters and coaches to change from their old tactics and learn the proper way to skate defensively and offensively under the new rule. Officials had a similar learning curve as they had to learn to look for different things than they had in the past. As everyone learned how to function best under the new rule, changes as to how races were raced and officiated emerged.<br /><br />Athletes quickly realized that they could get away with what may have been, in the past, bad passes. There was an increase of skaters trying to squeeze their shoulders ahead of another skater at the last second before the entrance into a corner. "Suicide passes" or passes where one skater hurls himself from the back of the pack to the front without an actual space to fit into increased as well. This subsequently lead to more multi-skater crashes, or whole pack pile ups. There were also changes in the way races were officiated. Due to the fact that all it took was to have ones shoulders ahead of the other skater, something that is very hard to tell with the naked eye at 40+km/h, the need to use video replay increased substantially. This subsequently slowed the pace at which a day of racing rolled, as there were longer delays between races.<br /><br />So has the new rule improved the sport? In my opinion as a skater, I'm not sure. Yes there are now more opportunities to pass. On the flip though this means its easier to be passed. I think that more passing in the sport is generally a good thing, as it will only serve to increase the excitement of the sport which, ideally, will increase the overall viewership and popularity of Short Track, promoting the growth of the sport. But is there a cost? With the increase of big crashes are we likely to see more injuries? Although big crashes are unfortunately what this sport is known for (Stephen Bradbury 2002 Olympics anyone?) having more of that isn't the way to sell the sport. Especially if the top skaters, the ones that the sport relies on as headliners, role models and spokespeople, start to get seriously injured more often. In addition, there will need to be a way to mitigate the length of time it takes for video replay. Obviously we all want fair calls to be made by the officials, but in todays on-demand world, where people's attention spans are shorter than ever and TV audiences demand non stop action, we can't have big delays in between races either. Ultimately, I think its going to take at least another year to really see whether the changes are in fact good for the growth and development of the sport.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-18949827706242436752011-09-28T18:17:00.001-06:002011-09-28T18:21:15.328-06:00Update time!Oufffff. Well, I'm well overdue for an update here at ol' mgilday.blogspot.com. Since my last post about our camp in Font-Romeu, not a ton has happened. First thing on the agenda after getting back from France was to get moved into our apartment here in Montreal. Moving isn't easy, but lucky for us, everyone who moves in Montreal moves on July 1st, so we were able to poach some nice furniture that people had left on the side of the road.<br /><br />Following moving in, we received the fantastic news that our normal training centre, the Maurice Richard Arena, was out of commission for a least a month. I say this with a massive amount of sarcasm. Unfortunately, there aren't any Olympic sized arenas situated on the island of Montreal, so the whole group got to enjoy the joys of commuting more than an hour each day out to a brand new arena in Chateauguay. Driving an hour each way also let me get a taste of what driving in Montreal in the summer means. From what I have been able to find out there is some sort of rule that says all major roads in Montreal, including major bridges, must either be under construction, or have a lane closed off by hundreds and hundreds of orange cones during the summer months. Needless to say, this wasn't the highlight of the summer.<br /><br />Lucky for us, August rolled around and with it came the good news that Maurice Richard would be opening! From a training perspective this was the point were I started to turn around my summer. Prior to this, I had been getting pummeled day in and day out at training as I worked to adapt to a new training environment and style. As we moved towards the end of August and the start of September, it was really nice to feel like myself again on the ice, even if the feeling was at times fleeting.<br /><br />All of a sudden, we found ourselves in the middle of September and face to face with a Short Track skaters annual end of summer routine, the Fall World Cup Trials. I was really not sure what to expect from myself as my summer of training had been so hit and miss. One thing I was sure of though was that I had put in as much work as I could. This was one goal I set for myself this summer, under the knowledge that there would be an adaptation period in my new training locale.<br /><br />Well, a summer of suffering seemed to pay off. After an up and down weekend that featured some good skating, bad skating, early season jitters and a healthy dose of good fortune, I managed to snag 3rd overall and a guaranteed spot to all four stops on the World Cup circuit this fall. I definitely left the weekend feeling unsatisfied though and I realized that I have a lot of hard work in front of me so that I can continue to progress here in Canada and on the World Cup scene. Luckily, I also finished the trials weekend off motivated to get the required work done, so I'm looking forward to suffering some more before we leave for the first World Cup in a few weeks from now.<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ynAOjvYWabw" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><br />This is a video of the 1500m final that I won. I'm helmet cover #21. I actually finish 2nd at the line, but Olivier Jean was disqualified for an earlier pass.<br /><br /><br /><br />MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-87896904865173194592011-06-27T17:02:00.001-06:002011-06-27T17:17:27.711-06:005 Reasons Why Font-Romeu is Awesome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>I'm back. In Canada that is. The whole team arrived safely back in Canada on Friday from what proved to be an amazing camp. For me, it was probably my best ever camp. Coming out of this camp I feel like I am in a great place physically, far ahead of where I was last year, but most importantly, motivated and excited to keep training this summer.<br /><br />Here are 5 reasons why I thought Font-Romeu was/is awesome.<br /><br />1. The training centre has everything.<br /><br />Olympic sized arena, running track, inline speed skating track, soccer fields, swimming pool, weight rooms, gyms, medical support and from there you can access a myriad of fairly tale like roads for biking that wind infinitely through the valley.<br /><br />2. The setting is beautiful<br /><br />For me it was the perfect setting. The town is nestled on the side of a mountain and looks over a large valley towards Spain. You are surrounded by nature and mountains with trails to explore and viewpoints to relax at. Clouds roll through the valley, the sun paints the mountains red in the evening. Beautiful.<br /><br />3. The town creates an ideal training environment<br /><br />Font-Romeu has only a few thousand habitants. As you can imagine, there isn't a whole lot going on. But this is perfect for training. It means that for the most part, all you can do is train or recover. No distractions.<br /><br />4. Altitude.<br /><br />The town sits at around 1800m, and the training centre is slightly higher than that allowing us to take advantage of the thin air to boost the value of our hard work.<br /><br />5. The general atmosphere.<br /><br />A laid back mountain vibe permeates from every part of the region. Small, quaint, family run restaurants and shops. The town shuts down on Sunday, and most of Monday.&nbsp;Street corner food vendors selling products they have made themselves. Beauty.<br /><br />I could go on and on about how I loved Font-Romeu. It simply was the perfect place for us to put in some hard early summer training and set up the rest of the season. I hope to be back someday, road bike in tow, in order to explore some mountain climbs and explore the region without being obligated to feel good for the next days training.<br /><br /><br />The view from our balcony....<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pD7ctfILdS8/TgkJgyIg1KI/AAAAAAAAAaI/4TeJ8SxND30/s1600/SDC10193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pD7ctfILdS8/TgkJgyIg1KI/AAAAAAAAAaI/4TeJ8SxND30/s400/SDC10193.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;on a cloudy/rainy day...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yd43NEx6fA4/TgkJul3kWxI/AAAAAAAAAaM/mWxyA87CHG8/s1600/SDC10283.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yd43NEx6fA4/TgkJul3kWxI/AAAAAAAAAaM/mWxyA87CHG8/s400/SDC10283.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;in the evening...<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0CVMUi8Kiec/TgkKKkGUcMI/AAAAAAAAAaU/_tYxJoUg2Ds/s1600/SDC10296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0CVMUi8Kiec/TgkKKkGUcMI/AAAAAAAAAaU/_tYxJoUg2Ds/s400/SDC10296.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; and first thing in the morning.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PMxNsorCo68/TgkJ9ZItfvI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/B20fN-ZHLTY/s1600/SDC10364.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PMxNsorCo68/TgkJ9ZItfvI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/B20fN-ZHLTY/s400/SDC10364.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The training centre.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lastly, watch this. Its a video made my Cameron Sylvester of the Canadian Rowing Team. Mega inspiring.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/25609243?color=d92400" width="400"></iframe></div><a href="http://vimeo.com/25609243">Inside The Olympic Dream</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user4409493">cameron sylvester</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-5212023636764725822011-06-10T12:54:00.000-06:002011-06-10T12:54:44.559-06:00Jet-LagToday, I present to you a post about jet lag. Seeing as I am currently overseas attending a training camp in the beautiful mountain town of Font-Romeu, France, I figured a post about the joys of jet lag and some of my own personal strategies on how to best beat it would be appropriate.<br /><br />So first, what is jet lag? Jet-lag occurs when you a quickly transported to another time zone that is either far ahead or behind the one you currently reside in. Therefore, your circadian rhythm is thrown off and your body thinks that it is day when in fact, it is night, or vice versa. The primary symptoms of jet-lag are not being able to sleep and the side-affects of sleep loss or sleep deprivation such as lack of energy, grumpiness and general lethargy. Although not being able to sleep, or feeling sleepy in the middle of the day is never any fun, it is especially troublesome for athletes as we need to be fully alert and awake in order to perform at our highest levels. It is for this reason that many athletes have spent much time and effort coming up with strategies to combat the effects of jet-lag.<br /><br />Everyone has their own best method. Some swear by staying up late the night before traveling. Others like to use copious amounts of caffeine to stay awake upon arrival. Some prefer to turn to the brilliance of modern pharmaceuticals and use sleeping pills or melatonin to help them sleep when its night. Personally, I like to use a very basic method that helps me regain a normal schedule as normally as possible.<br /><br />The first step in my own personal jet-lag battle plan to be as caught up on my sleep as possible before I leave. That means making sure that I go to bed as early as I can and sleep as much as I can before I leave. I do this because I am not the best sleeper on planes and I prefer to rely on my nice comfortable bed for sleep instead of hedging my bets on an uncomfortable airplane seat. By doing this, I also virtually assure myself of being exhausted from a long travel day when I arrive, and thus can have a good first nights sleep.<br /><br />Secondly, I make sure to try and bring my own healthy snacks on the plane with me, as well as drink a lot of water while on the plane. This helps to make sure that I keep me healthy since its easy to catch something when you are inevitably tired in the first few day.<br /><br />Upon arrival, I like to get some exercise. I normally do a light jog, combined with a good long stretching session since my muscles are always tight from sitting in a plane for way too long. I find that this helps tire me out a bit so that I can sleep better that first night and also lets me see some of my new surroundings and exposes me to natural light (or darkness) thus helping my body figure out what time it really is.<br /><br />All that helps me get through the first night. But the hardest nights are often the second and third. At least &nbsp;for me anyways. My key to sleeping on the second and third nights is quite simple. NO NAPS. I always want to nap on the second and third days. Always. My eyelids will get heavy as I enjoy a quick sit down after a meal. I think, oh I'll just take a 15 minute power nap. Then bang, I wake up and I have slept for an hour or two or more. By night time, I'll be wide awake and end up falling asleep at 4 am only to have to wake up a few hours later. Its also important to go to bed at your normal bedtime. After I manage to not take a quick nap, &nbsp;7:30pm rolls around and I think, I'll go to bed now, I'm really tired only to wake up at 3am with nothing to do, nowhere to eat and my roommate sleeping so I can't even watch crappy late night TV in Russian (or Chinese, or whatever language may be spoken in that particular country).&nbsp;With any luck, I manage to get a solid block of sleep each night and by the fourth or fifth night, I fall into a nice rhythm of sleeping and eating at the proper hours.<br /><br />So that's that. My jet-lag strategy. Does it always work? No. Some places are easier to travel to. I find Europe is easiest on the trip out, but harder on the way back. Asia is hard no matter which direction you travel in. Sometimes I am lucky and it works well, sometime its tougher. Beating jet-lag isn't an exact science, but if anyone out there has a foolproof method, let me know!MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-86329947371390733972011-06-01T16:32:00.001-06:002011-06-01T16:41:28.621-06:00Moving Mega PostFor a while now, years actually, I have face a single question from many many different people. Usually the question would arise at competitions, either at home or abroad. Sometimes I would get it at training camps. I've even been asked it while on vacation. The question?<br /><br />"When are you moving to Montreal?"<br /><br />It also came in variations.<br /><br />"Have you thought about moving to Montreal?" "Why don't you move to Montreal?"<br /><br />I've even got "So I heard you moved to Montreal a while back"<br /><br />For the longest time my answers were the same. "No, I'm comfortable in Calgary", "Everything is going well so why change?", "Where did you hear that? Its not true by the way".<br /><br />But finally, the time has come. Actually it has come and gone.<br /><br />Once the season finished in March, I decided to put some serious thought into moving. After all, moving across the country is not a decision to be taken lightly. I started to piece together some details, talked to some key people who's opinions I valued a lot. I thought A LOT. Probably too much. But finally after a trip home in April, I made my final decision. I would move to Montreal to join the rest of the National Team for this season.<br /><br />There were many factors at play that led to my decision. But ultimately what it all boiled down to was that I didn't want to look back on my career as a skater and think, what if I had have had the courage to move to Montreal. Could I have been a better skater? Could I have achieved more or learned new methods? I didn't want to have these question nagging a me forever.<br /><br />Once the decision was made, the work started. Along with my other Calgary teammates, I attended a pre-season evaluation camp here in Montreal in the last week in April. This gave me the perfect opportunity to search out a place to live and get acquainted with what would be my new neighborhood. Once I got back from Montreal, it was really game on. Packing up my condo, cleaning, recycling, selling and giving stuff away (I still have two desks for sale, leave a comment if you are interested and in the Calgary area!!).<br /><br />Then on May 16th, I packed my Volkswagen Golf as full as it has ever been, and pointed it east.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PAPa9hY10Ko/Tea62dsa98I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/DVejyQ15M5Q/s1600/SDC10164.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PAPa9hY10Ko/Tea62dsa98I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/DVejyQ15M5Q/s320/SDC10164.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; At the Saskatchewan border<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bJ3Kss4k4k8/Tea7DSqSrOI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/2hTjQoTDEfc/s1600/SDC10168.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bJ3Kss4k4k8/Tea7DSqSrOI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/2hTjQoTDEfc/s320/SDC10168.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The Manitoba Border, taken at 120km/h.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b23vUsLG-DA/Tea7PQOPfLI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/4YdOAMnt6vI/s1600/SDC10170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b23vUsLG-DA/Tea7PQOPfLI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/4YdOAMnt6vI/s320/SDC10170.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Welcome to Ontario!<br />(didn't manage to get a Quebec border sign pic because it was pouring rain and I just wanted to get there by that point)<br /><br />3800km and four days later, I arrived in Montreal. The drive across the country was long. But it was also beautiful and even a bit fun. I don't know if I would be eager to do it again soon, but I will definitely do again in the future, and hopefully take more time to explore along the way. Canada is really big and beautiful.<br /><br />So thats that. A big change. The six years that I spent in Calgary were awesome. I've met so many neat people and been fortunate to train with great training partners and under a fantastic coaching staff, but it was time for a change. I'll miss Calgary for sure, but I'll be back one day. I've been in Montreal for two weeks now and even though there have been times where I have felt homesick and had doubts, things are going well and I'm looking forward to this season in a way that I haven't for a long time.<br /><br />The whole team is off to Font-Romeu, France, for a training camp on Saturday so I'll try to get some pics up as well as some news from the Pyrenees!MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-27954424312386999052011-05-25T11:25:00.000-06:002011-05-25T11:25:19.470-06:00Three months in 25 linesGet ready, were going to do this fast. Like really fast. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUGzY-ihqWc&amp;feature=fvwrel">This fast.</a><br /><br />Feb 6, 2011<br />Landed in Russia.<br />It was cold, but not that cold.<br />Raced. Won a bronze in the 1500m. Won a bronze in the relay.<br />Got stuck in the worst traffic.<br />Flew to Dresden.<br />Raced. Crashed hard, twice.&nbsp;Won a bronze in the 1500m. Won a bronze in the relay.<br />Flew to Montreal. Trained<br />Flew to Sheffield.<br />Raced. Won World Championship in the Relay.<br />Flew to Warsaw.<br />Raced (poorly). Finished third in World Teams.<br />Partied in Warsaw.<br />Flew to Calgary.<br />Season over.<br />Went skiing in fresh powder (sick!)<br />Relaxed.<br />Watched hockey.<br />BSD!!<br />Went to Yellowknife. XC skied alot. Wish I had more time there.<br />Flew to Montreal. Testing Camp.<br />Back to Calgary.<br />Started work required for a life change.<br />Which will be covered later<br />May 16th.MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-90711235303597775332011-02-05T14:14:00.000-07:002011-02-05T14:14:06.655-07:00Pre Road Trip 15 (sort of) Random ThoughtsTomorrow I'm heading on the road again for another set of World Cups. But I'm going to be adding some other stuff onto this trip. Like World Championships among other things.<br /><br />1. Packing is tiring. And I'm not even finished. Luckily every trip needs the same thing, so packing is also repetitive, which may add to the fatigue (cause its boring)<br /><br />2. The longest I have been on the road at one time is three weeks.<br /><br />3. This trip is going to be six weeks long and will cover 5 countries.<br /><br />4. They are Russia, Germany, Canada, Great Britain, Poland. I have never been to Russia, Britain and Poland.<br /><br />5. Basically my itinerary looks like this. Russia one week, Germany one week, Montreal two weeks, Britain one week, Poland one week. Oh, and I may add on a week of sightseeing at the end. We'll see.<br /><br />6. I'm not sure how many Aeroplan points I'll end up with, but hopefully it will give me a really good head start towards Elite status for next year.<br /><br />7. Tomorrow will be a long travel day. Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Frankfurt, Moscow.<br /><br />8. I'm excited though. Racing is why we train, so its nice to be able to have a lot of racing to do after all the work we have put in this season.<br /><br />9. One thing I regret not doing while I was in Asia in the fall was taking pictures. I don't know why I didn't. I am going to make an effort to take some this time. Which will hopefully mean some for the blog.<br /><br />10. Modern Family is an excellent television show. Just brilliant.<br /><br />11. Canada's freestyle and ski cross skiers are awesome. Just this week they have won four different World Championships. Jenn Heil in moguls, Warren Shouldice in aerials and Chris Del Bosco and Kelsey Serwa in ski cross. Major Boom.<br /><br />12. In other amateur sport news, mad props must be given to Christine Nesbitt, long track speed skater, who just won her first World Sprint Championship. Not bad for a non pure sprinter. Also boom.<br /><br />13. I'd love to be on the podium at World Championships this year. That will now be my goal for the rest of the season.<br /><br />14. I have a plant that is dying. It has barely grown in the three years I have had it and now it has a few brown leaves.<br /><br />15. In the words of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO45iY7hilI">Ronnie Coleman</a>, Ain't Nothing to it but to do it!MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-71866182700818119512011-02-02T12:26:00.004-07:002011-02-04T11:58:06.176-07:00Since Christmas...<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TUm0pJ1TAFI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/pNU16YknwUk/s1600/2011-01-25-ste.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a>So whats been going on since Christmas? Honestly, not a whole lot out of the ordinary. Upon returning from Yellowknife for a short Christmas break, it was time to get back to business and put in our last bit of work before we headed off to the Canadian Championships in Montreal Jan 21-23. The Canadian Championships, as they do every year, determine who will compete for Canada at the last two world cup stops and the World Championships and World Team Championships. <br /><div><br /></div><div>Early in the season I had set my sights on this weekend as my main goal for the year. With Worlds being my main focus this season, I would have to skate well at the Canadian Champs in order to qualify. </div><div><br /></div><div>The weekend started well enough, I finished 3rd in the 1500, but things quickly took a turn for the worse as I was disqualified in my heat. At this point, I knew that I wouldn't be able to accumulate many points in the 500, and in a competition like this where cumulative points from four distances qualify a skater to the team, consistency is key. Coming back on Saturday, I wanted to just skate well and get as many points as I could (30, compared to 1000 for a win). I did this and looked forward to Sunday and the 1000 and 3000m distances.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; color: #0000ee;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569181033327427666" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TUm0pJ1TAFI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/pNU16YknwUk/s320/2011-01-25-ste.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 214px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; color: #0000ee;">Leading the 1500m Final. Olivier Jean and Francois Hamelin behind. Photo: Paul Shoebridge</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Overall on Sunday I felt I really brought my A-game physically and mentally. But it was a terrible tactical mistake that I had been making all week that cost me a spot in the 1000m A final. Following this, I figured for sure my chance of making the team was over. </div><div><br /></div><div>But, as they say, its never over til its over and there is perhaps no other place where this is true than in Short Track. Following nearly 20 (out of 27) laps on my own trying to lap the pack, I managed to finish third in the 3000m and claim 5th overall (5 go to worlds) by only 28 points. I don't know if I have ever hurt as badly as I did in that 3k.</div><div><br /></div><div>Needless to say, it was a roller coaster of a weekend for me, but I showed myself that I am improving as I did not need to have my best performance to make the team. A few years ago a weekend like this would have left me way back in the results. I know what needs to be fixed and changed.</div><div><br /></div><div>So with that weekend behind me, its time to look forward to the rest of the international season. On Sunday, Jess Gregg who was the other Calgary based athlete to make worlds, and I will head to Montreal to meet up with the rest of the team and head off to Moscow, Russia and Dresden, Germany for two weeks of world cups. Following that I will either return to Calgary for a few days, or head straight to Montreal to train with the rest of the guys prior to the World Championships which take place &nbsp;in Sheffield England, and the World Team Championships in Warsaw, Poland.</div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-62952093931034231822010-12-29T20:43:00.002-07:002010-12-29T20:55:29.884-07:00Big Cheques are Fun!!<div style="text-align: left;">My annual trip home for Christmas has come and gone, much to quickly as usual. While I was at home in Yellowknife though, I attended a small ceremony to hand over a cheque on behalf on Intact Insurance to the Yellowknife Speed Skating Club. As I have mentioned before, Intact has introduced a new program this season where for each individual podium achieved by a Canadian athlete on the World Cup circuit, $1000 will be donated to a grassroots club in Canada. As a bonus, the first podium by any athlete will see that $1000 donated to their home club. So as I was on the podium for the first time this season in Montreal, our club was one of the first to receive support from this great program! Speed skating in Canada is really lucky to have Intact as a sponsor, not only at the National Team level, but through all levels of the sport in Canada. They are a true example of corporate philanthropy. Thank you Intact!!</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TRwCkKPONZI/AAAAAAAAAZE/OWwQ-dUmQ2c/s320/162635_487212777345_560687345_5837281_1751178_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556318860515095954" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TRwCj7HH3lI/AAAAAAAAAY8/-UmY-hXRtak/s320/164663_487212332345_560687345_5837272_3782283_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556318856454594130" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "></span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-18804138426431051522010-12-17T18:59:00.004-07:002010-12-17T19:39:52.600-07:0020 Thoughts from the last month<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TQwebcO8WEI/AAAAAAAAAYw/YG2AdCzo2sg/s1600/63679_614502650807_120605077_36117022_7071312_n.jpg"><br /></a></div>To be honest, the idea of writing the same good ol' blog update blah blah about how things are going isn't inspiring me to write anything. So I'm going to try something different today. Here are 20 random thoughts from the last month(ish)<div><br /></div><div>1. Skating is a funny thing. You can be good one day and bad the next. Good one week and bad the next. Cycles are good though. Leaves you wanting more. And makes you work for it.</div><div><br /></div><div>2. World Cups and exams always seem to coincide. That makes for a crazy week returning from a trip. I had two exams upon returning from Quebec and China. Fun week...</div><div><br /></div><div>3. But the best way to come down from a hectic post world cup/mid-term week is to go to Canmore for some altitude/volume/mental recovery training. </div><div><br /></div><div>4. I'm trying some new blades. Got on them just over a month ago. They are called EVOs. Men's National team coach Derrick Campbell is involved with the company and let me try some. So far, so good.</div><div><br /></div><div>5. Trying them made me realize that its good to be able to adapt quickly to equipment. You never know when something could break and you will have to go to something you aren't necessarily comfortable with.</div><div><br /></div><div>6. Airline upgrade certificates really do work! Got to use my first one (after having them for several years and never being able to use them) on the way to China. A 11 hour flight is a good time to be in first class. </div><div><br /></div><div>7. You can still smoke in arenas in China. In Changchun, even the security guards were smoking in the stands despite the announcers asking people not too. Its hard to race hard when all you see when looking across the rink is a haze of smoke.</div><div><br /></div><div>8. Speaking of China, I have to say China scares me. Not physically being there, but realizing the shear size of the population and how fast they are developing. With the increased wealth and growth, the amount of raw materials needed in the future will be ridiculous. China will surely control much of the world in the next 20 years.</div><div><br /></div><div>9. The suburbs of Shanghai are a nice place though. All brand new. One of the neatest places I have skated for sure.</div><div><br /></div><div>10. The Koreans are in great shape. Most would consider this a no brainer, but I guess selecting a team only on time trials doesn't compromise racing skills. </div><div><br /></div><div>11. I thought I gave Ho-Suk Lee a pretty good run for his money at the end of the relay in Shanghai though.</div><div><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QBCcvZRcdkY?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QBCcvZRcdkY?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div><br /></div><div>12. Unfortunately that was my best skating in the Chinese world cups. Individually I made too many mistakes. Tactical mostly. </div><div><br /></div><div>13. I'm hoping to get another 20 questions up soon. Probably with one of my teammates who did their first world cups in China.</div><div><br /></div><div>14. It was awesome to have 5 athletes all from Calgary on the World Cup team. </div><div><br /></div><div>15. One cool question we got was from a lady after getting off the plane in Beijing enroute to Changchun. "You guys are the Canadian Short Track team? Aren't you supposed to be francophone?" </div><div><br /></div><div>16. That being said, I really enjoy my time on the World Cup circuit with my teammates from Montreal. We have a lot of fun. And my french always improves after two weeks on the road with them.</div><div><br /></div><div>17. Jet lag sucks. Why can't we just jump half-way across the world and have it just be like nothing happened.</div><div><br /></div><div>18. I once again realized how spoiled we are to have such an amazing facility here at the Olympic Oval in Calgary. The rink in Changchun was FREEZING. Shanghai's rink was slightly warmer. At least in Shanghai we could warm-up in our shorts outside in +18 degree weather.</div><div><br /></div><div>19. It was great to have Dustin Miller and Gabby Waddell's families in Shanghai. We had our own personal cheering section!</div><div><br /></div><div>20. I am constantly blown away by the support I receive from Yellowknifer's. I'm looking forward to coming home for Christmas big time. </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TQwebcO8WEI/AAAAAAAAAYw/YG2AdCzo2sg/s320/63679_614502650807_120605077_36117022_7071312_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551845897425147970" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></div><div>We won gold in the relay in Changchun.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TQwebHV3CMI/AAAAAAAAAYo/liTc6O80rQg/s320/154890_614502511087_120605077_36117016_4799338_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551845891817015490" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></div><div>Teammates from Calgary. I kind of missed the cue that we were taking a pic. Liam didn't though.</div><div><br /></div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-46784110123995636362010-10-25T06:26:00.004-06:002010-10-25T08:14:30.820-06:00Montreal World Cup Wrap-Up<div style="text-align: left;">Yesterday evening we finished of the first world cup stop of the season here in Montreal. Overall the weekend went really well for the team, especially Sunday. Sunday Team Canada managed to pick up another 7 medals, including 4 gold (mens/womens 500m, mens 1500, mens 5000m relay). For me, I had a solid weekend as well, winning a silver in the 1000m and taking part in our winning relay team.</div><div><br /></div><div>Obviously without the Koreans here, the races took a slightly different shape than normal, as everyone normally expects the Koreans to be in a fight for podiums at every turn. Despite that though, I don't think you can take to much away from our team. Both the men's and women's teams skated well and this was a good point to start off on as we begin a new Olympic cycle. </div><div><br /></div><div>A second change this weekend was the introduction of several new rules. In order to create more passing the ISU decided to tweak how impeding was called. Previously, the onus was on the skater that was passing on the inside to make a clean pass (i.e no contact) as they moved up. Any contact with the skater being passed that caused that skater to lose position would have resulted in the skater executing the pass being disqualified. This year, the onus to keep the race contact free changes over to the skater being passed once the passing skater draws even with the lead skater. Because this was the first competition where we have seen this new rule being enforced, there was a bit of confusion on the part of athletes, coaches and officials, but as the weekend wore on, everyone got more and more used to how the rule would play out. It will still take time to iron out exactly how to take of advantage of the new rule from an athletes perspective, and also how to defend against it, but hopefully everything will lead in a positive direction for the sport.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, I want to extend a huge thanks and shout-out to one of our teams sponsors, Intact Insurance. Intact has been with our team for a long time and this year, has announced a new initiative that will help develop grass-roots skating in Canada. For each Canadian that steps on to a world cup podium this season, Intact will donate $1000 to a speedskating club in Canada. I can't even begin to explain how fantastic an initiative this is. Huge thanks goes out to Intact and if you have a chance to support this company, please do!</div><div><br /></div><div>So thats all from Montreal, we head up the St-Lawrence this afternoon to Quebec City for the second World Cup of the year next weekend.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TMV8NYEd3VI/AAAAAAAAAYE/JyzKUUydc_Q/s320/33670_487679586277_669001277_7363820_8215481_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531964286535851346" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " /></span></div><div>Photo by Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TMV8N5rvLGI/AAAAAAAAAYM/4c21UOJlg9w/s320/67748_487676621277_669001277_7363754_1158961_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531964295558933602" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " /></span></div><div>Photo by Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TMV8OAI-PjI/AAAAAAAAAYU/22VJioM7SUw/s320/67545_499112575999_511630999_7978193_2128895_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531964297292168754" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 320px; " /></span></div><div>Photo by Peter Doucet - <a href="http://speedskateworld.com/">Speedskateworld.com</a></div><div><br /></div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-60421852856398657352010-10-21T16:04:00.003-06:002010-10-21T16:17:34.599-06:00Montreal World CupThe 2010-11 World Cup season starts off tomorrow morning here in Montreal. Tomorrow will see all of the qualifying heats go in each of the four distances being skated this weekend (500m, 1000m, 1500m, 1500m, 3000m Relay (women), 5000m Relay (Men)). I personally will be skating in the 500 and 1000 meter events as well as the relay. Despite the 500m maybe not being my strongest distance, I have chosen to compete it a few extra times this year so that I can hopefully be just as strong in it as other distances.<div><br /></div><div>If you are interested in tuning in to coverage of the competition, there are lots of options for you! First of all, for those who live in the Montreal area, come out and watch LIVE! It should be a great show Saturday and Sunday afternoons when the finals go. Info on scheduling and tickets can be found at <a href="http://coupedumonde2010.ca">coupedumonde2010.ca</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>For those that aren't in Montreal, there are the following options:</div><div><br /></div><div>1. Live Stream at <a href="http://cbc.ca/sports">cbc.ca/sports</a>. The stream will be live both Saturday and Sunday beginning, I believe at 3pm ET, which is 1Pm for those of you in Calgary and Yellowknife.</div><div><br /></div><div>2. CBC television will be showing an hour of coverage at 3pm EST on Saturday.</div><div><br /></div><div>3. Tony Chung of ShorttrackHD.com should be twittering all day long for all three days of competition. You can find him at <a href="twitter.com/shorttrackHD">twitter.com/shorttrackHD</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>4. The ISU site normally has live results on their website. Find it <a href="http://www.sportresult.com/federations/ISU/ShortTrack/Results.aspx?evt=11210300000002">here</a>. Click on the yellow LIVE button on the top to reach the live results.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-43399631404180314182010-10-07T11:45:00.003-06:002010-10-07T12:21:10.284-06:00Nascar NutritionOne question I often get asked when the subject of skating comes up is "do you follow a specific diet?". The answer I give is normally quite simple. No, I'm not on a diet, but I do eat a certain way in order to help myself recover the best I can from workout to workout and from day to day. <div><br /></div><div>The way I eat is actual a bit more complicated than that simple response. The key in my response is that I am not on a "diet". To me, a diet means that one is eating in a specific way in order to achieve certain changes in ones body shape. This is not something I am normally trying to do, although as an athlete I will occasionally try to achieve a certain body weight that is optimal for me just prior to major competitions. For me, eating is about two things. The "what" and the "when". Everyone today knows all about the benefits of eating in a healthy and balanced way. This part makes up the "what". The "what" is very important, but I have learned from experience that to get the most out of the "what" part, it is important to pay attention to the "when". </div><div><br /></div><div>By this I mean paying attention to the timing of your meals. For example, picture your body like the gas tank of a car. Before you go on a long or difficult journey, you would fill the gas tank to full. If you don't start full, you may run out of gas before you reach your destination. For me, filling up before leaving means breakfast and the long journey means the hardest workout of the day, which normally occurs in the morning. Running out of gas means I bonk in the middle of the workout and don't get the full benefit of the work I am doing. </div><div><br /></div><div>Once you get back from a long journey, you need to fill up your car with gas again, so you don't run out of gas later when you head out to do some errands. Also need to do general maintenance to repair the wear and tear the long journey has put on the engine. For me, general maintenance comes in the form of a protein shake immediately after the hardest workout of the day. Following that, I will eat my biggest meal of the day (i.e dinner, but at lunch time). Think of this as the refilling the gas tank at the end of the journey so that I can be prepared for shorter journeys later on. Think of these shorter journeys as errands, or in my case my second workout of the day which is normally a bit easier than the morning one.</div><div><br /></div><div>But running errands also takes gas and the tank the gas needle will slip farther away from F and closer to E. You know that you have another long journey the next morning, so you take the time to top off the tank and do some more general maintenance to help the car be ready for the next time you need to use it. So in my case, general maintenance again occurs right after the second workout, and then following that I will top of my tank with my second biggest workout of the day (i.e lunch for dinner).</div><div><br /></div><div>By repeating this process day in and day out, your car will never run out of gas (or energy in your body's case). Also, by filling the tank the fullest before and after the longest journey, you are never carrying more gas than you need, which is inefficient as it is just extra weight. The same can be said about food. I always try to eat to most (by volume) when my body needs it the most (after the longest/hardest workout) and eat less when I haven't drained my own personal gas tank as far.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-213693163530627862010-09-26T12:52:00.002-06:002010-09-26T13:05:43.088-06:002 Year Anniversary PostWhile I was writing yesterdays <a href="mgilday.blogspot.com/2010/09/world-cup-trials-recap.html">post</a>, I realized that today (sept 26) was the day two years ago that I started blogging. So in honour of two years of blogging, I thought I would look through my blogs statistics and throw out a few numbers.<div><br /></div><div>In two years:</div><div><br /></div><div>total # of views: 23067</div><div>average # views per month: 923</div><div>highest # of views in 1 month: 2851 (Aug 2009)</div><div>lowest # of views in 1 month: 188 (June 2010)</div><div>total # posts: 88</div><div>average # of posts per month: 3.67</div><div><br /></div><div>Visits from people living in Canada, United States, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, France, Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, Belarus, Australia, Russia, Namibia and others.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-90138086795363494952010-09-25T14:49:00.005-06:002010-09-25T15:30:00.766-06:00World Cup Trials recap<div style="text-align: left;">For my first real update about my own personal skating this year I present a post about the Fall World Cup Trials that were held last weekend here in Calgary.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This season, like many before it was set to tee off with a trials. And as usual, the trials came early (actually a little later than normal but early none the less). This year, being a post-olympic one, would see a little bit of a different qualifying format being used. We skated all three distances (1500, 500, 1000m) twice. In order to determine final ranking, your best two combined distances would count (i.e counting 2x1500 and 2x500 and not 1x1500 1x500, 1x500 1x 1000). From these rankings the top three overall skaters would automatically selected to compete at all 4 fall world cups stops. The remaining three spots on the team would be decided by the discretion of Speedskating Canada's (SSC) High Performance Committee. The reason for this is that at the start of a new Olympic quadrennial, it is important to give experience to younger and less experienced skaters who may be integral parts of future Olympic and World Championship teams.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyways, enough with the technical blah blah and on to the competition. For me personally, the trials went quite well. As you may have seen in the press release I posted on sunday night, you can see that I finished 2nd overall behind Charles Hamelin and qualified for all four stops. I was quite happy to have qualified automatically and decide my own fate, instead of waiting for the committee's decision. After not competing on the World Cup circuit since March 2009, it will be good to get back to racing at the highest level. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another positive that came from last weekend was that a number of my teammates also performed well, and as such will have the opportunity to test themselves on the World Cup circuit for the first time. As I mentioned before, one of SSC's goals for this season is to introduce younger and less experienced skaters on to the world cup circuit. This meant that Dustin Miller, Liam McFarlane and Gabby Waddell, all of who train in Calgary will be traveling with the team to the 3rd and 4th World Cups.</div><div><br /></div><div>I guess I should also mention where the Fall World Cups are being held. The season will kick off in Montreal Oct. 22-24 followed by a stop in Quebec City Oct 29-31. After a month long break, things will continue with two stops in China, the first in Changchun Dec 3-5, followed by a stop in Shanghai Dec 10-12. So if you live in or near any other those cities (im guessing more readers will be close to Quebec haha) come out and watch. We always appreciate spectators!</div><div><br /></div><div>For those that are interested, the following are the men that will be competing at each of the 4 World Cups (I apologize for not having the women's team, I can't remember t exactly and don't want to put false info.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Montreal: Charles Hamelin, Michael Gilday, Francois-Louis Tremblay, Francois Hamelin, Remi Beaulieu, Guillaume Bastille.</div><div>Quebec: Charles Hamelin, Michael Gilday, Francois-Louis Tremblay, Francois Hamelin, Guillaume Bastille, Maxime Fortin.</div><div>Changchun and Shanghai: Charles Hamelin, Michael Gilday, Olivier Jean, Remi Beaulieu, Liam McFarlane, Dustin Miller.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, here are a couple pics from the weekend courtesy of Tracy Hillis.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TJ5noPzGABI/AAAAAAAAAXw/9b_p5tksgJI/s320/61363_1601366080025_1412264982_31699424_8067004_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520964134336069650" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 166px; " /></span></div><div>Leading Francois Hamelin and Gabriel Chiasson-Poirier in a 1000m quarter (I think)</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TJ5nnt8MDtI/AAAAAAAAAXo/-3zD7Wg06Fk/s320/61123_1601347039549_1412264982_31699344_331050_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520964125247409874" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 182px; " /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></span></div><div>Start of my heat in 500 #1</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ktIrEm94dh0/TJ5nnS5X2MI/AAAAAAAAAXg/7U_jznaJwn4/s320/61322_1601341559412_1412264982_31699338_2365379_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520964117987842242" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 130px; " /></span></div><div>Leading 1500m #2 A final, which I eventually won.</div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-1574077722002366382010-09-19T17:37:00.001-06:002010-09-19T17:39:03.835-06:00Press Release from this weekend...from Speed Skating Canada, <a href="http://www.speedskating.ca/index.cfm?id=2312">here</a><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;color:red;"><strong>Six Short Track Skaters Qualify for Fall World Cups</strong></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:78%;color:black;"><strong>Date posted: 09/19/2010</strong></span></span><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;color:black;"><p>Victories in today’s 500m and 1000m events at the short track selections at the Calgary Olympic Oval helped Charles Hamelin (Ste-Julie, QC), Olivier Jean (Lachenaie, QC) and Marianne St-Gelais (St-Félicien, QC) secure their spots on Canada’s team for the Fall World Cups. Thanks to solid performances through the weekend, they, along with Valérie Maltais (La Baie, QC), Marie-Ève Drolet (Latterière, QC) and Michael Gilday (Yellowknife, NT) will represent Canada for the Montréal and Québec World Cups on October 22-24 and 29-31, as well as for the two Asian stops of the circuit, scheduled for early December.</p><p>The day started off with the 500m, won by Valérie Lambert (Sherbrooke, QC) in 44.050. She was never threatened in the final, easily cruising to the finish line, with Andréa Do-Duc (Montréal, QC) behind her in 44.144. Maltais took the third position in 44.194 and Drolet, who fell in the last corner, was fourth.</p><p>On to the 1000m, all girls wanted good races as it would determine who would make the team. St-Gelais started out front, but Lambert passed her outside in the first lap. St-Gelais was quick to get back out front, with an inside pass, and she managed to create a gap with the other skaters, crossing the finish line in 1:31.339. With six laps to go, Gabrielle Waddell tried an outside pass but collided with Lambert and fell. Lambert was later disqualified and Waddell, after getting back up, finished third. Marie-Ève Drolet was the other skater in the final, and she took the second position in 1:32.945.</p><p>Meanwhile, in the B final, Marie-Andrée Mendes-Campeau (Montréal, QC), Maltais and Do-Duc went all out, and all three skated under the old Canadian record held by Kalyna Roberge (1:29.870). Mendes-Campeau’s name will now be in the records book as she crossed the finish line in 1:29.132.</p><p>St-Gelais finished on top of the women’s combined ranking, thanks to three victories over four races (she sat out the 500m events due to an injury suffered earlier this week). Maltais took the second place with two second places (1500m), one first and one third (500m). Drolet takes the third spot on the World Cup team thanks to two second places in the 1000m, a third and a sixth in the 1500m.</p><p>On the men side, Charles Hamelin took the honours in the 500m. François-Louis Tremblay (Boucherville, QC) actually led most of the race, but Hamelin, who was just behind, overtook him at the finish line in 41.470. Tremblay had to settle for second place in 41.480. Allyn Gagnon was in third place all along, finishing in 41.849 and François Hamelin (Ste-Julie, QC) took the fourth position in 42.113. Liam McFarlane (Medicine Hat, AB) fell mid-race and had to settle for fifth place.</p><p>In the 1000m, Olivier Jean knew he needed to pull off a victory in order to make the World Cup team, and he did just that. It was a tight race to the finish between him and Gilday, but Jean took the lead with five laps to go with an inside pass and managed to win in 1:24.793. Gilday crossed the finish close behind in 1:24.844, and Rémi Beaulieu (Alma, QC) was third (1:24.968). Guillaume Bastille (Rivière-du-Loup, QC) and Dustin Miller were the last two skaters in the final and they finished fourth and fifth respectively (1:25.800 and 1:26.252).</p><p>Overall, Charles Hamelin takes the first position on the World Cup team, thanks to a first and second place in the 500m and a first and third in the 1500m. While he won the first 1000m race, he sat out the second because of a small injury. Michael Gilday is second overall with a fist and third place in the 1500m, and a second and third place in the 1000m. Olivier Jean’s victory in the 1000m, combined to a fifth place in that distance yesterday, as well as a second and fourth place in the 1500m, secured the third spot. Jean is however not planning on racing the first World Cup events this Fall, as he now wants to remain in Calgary and take part in the Long Track Fall World Cup Selections next month.</p><p>Speed Skating Canada’s High Performance Short Track Committee will meet in the next week to select the other three women and four men who will have the chance to represent Canada at the four stops of the World Cup Circuit taking place this fall.<br /></p><div><br /></div></span></span></div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-8461185855828809652010-09-05T15:58:00.001-06:002010-09-05T16:00:50.165-06:00Competitiveness in Short Track Speedskating<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">Recently, I was reading a few articles that were posted on TSN.ca about women’s hockey, and the lack of competition that exists within this sport. As some may know, the sport is dominated by two countries, Canada and the USA. Together they have won every World Championship since they began holding the world championships in 1990. At the recent World Hockey Summit, the basic debate surrounding women’s hockey is how to increase the competitiveness of women’s hockey in more countries around the world so the same two teams are not the only ones winning major championships and Olympic Games.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Anyways, this got me thinking about Short Track. Now obviously, Short track is not dominated by only two countries as women’s hockey is, right? Well as much as I’d like to say it isn’t, if you look at some numbers from past Olympics its easy to see that the sport is predominantly dominated by two countries on the men’s side, South Korea and Canada, and two countries on the women’s side, China and South Korea. Of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_track_speed_skating_at_the_Winter_Olympics">120 medals</a> that have been handed out at the Olympics (both genders) since Short Track became an Olympic event, Korea has won 37 or 31%, Canada has won 25 or 21% and China has won 24 or 21%. Add that up and you have three countries winning 72% of Olympic medals. The rest of the medals are scattered across a number of countries with a major (18 or 15%) going to the USA.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">So these numbers beg the question, does short track have a similar problem to that of women’s hockey where a small number of countries dominate the podiums? My simple answer is no. Why? Well there are several reasons.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">First of all, our sport has three (and more recently four) “superpowers”. These of course being South Korea, Canada and China, with the USA following closely behind and quickly catching up. Compare this to women’s hockey, which only has two “superpowers”.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Secondly, the sport is still quite young as Olympic sports go (although the same could be argued for women’s hockey as it joined the Olympics in 1998) and continues to grow, especially in Europe, a continent that is traditionally a winter sports mecca. Not surprisingly, those countries that have a history of short track since the beginning are strongest. But the sport continues to grow. On the world cup circuit we increasingly see skaters from non-traditional short track countries getting into A- finals and threatening podiums. We have also witnessed coaches from traditional short track powers move to countries with newer short track programs and bring the level of those countries skaters up to a higher level. Primarily we have seen this with South Korean coaches such as Jae-Su Chun who is coaching the American team, as well as his brother Kevin recently joined the Great Britain team and others who coach in France and at various clubs across the USA. Coaches from Canada and China have also ventured overseas to spread their knowledge. Eric Bedard spent the last two seasons as the head coach of the German team and Li Yan coached in the US before heading back to China. Australian and Polish teams have also employed Chinese coaches at one time or another. This spread of knowledge across borders can only help the sport as it brings the level of less skilled skaters up and forces those at the top to continue to innovate if they wish to continue winning. Better results from non-traditional short track countries also increases interest in the sport, theoretically increasing growth as well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Thirdly, Short Track is not over-shadowed by a bigger, more popular sibling, as is the case with women’s hockey. The NHL and men’s professional leagues are big business in North America and Europe and command a huge portion of attention away from the women’s game. Some might argue that short track may have in fact experience this syndrome from Long Track, but the reality is that Short and Long Track skating share very little other than two skates and some ice, whereas men’s and women’s hockey are simply separated by gender. There are also no professional leagues in speed skating, with the exception of the Netherlands, which has several professional Long Track teams. Despite this, neither short or long track receive lopsided media attention when compared to the other, as in men’s vs. women’s hockey, which puts the two on even ground for growth in interest and exposure, even if both sport are starting out with levels of exposure that are very low compared to mainstream sports (exception again being Long Track in the Netherlands.)</p> <p class="MsoNormal">So that’s my take. Obviously my analysis is a little narrow, as it does not account for the fact that hockey is a team sport, while short track is not. There are probably several other problems with this analysis, but I think overall, it is fair to say that short track is not experiencing the problems that women’s hockey is, at least not to the same extent.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Agree? Disagree? Feel free to leave a comment and add to the discussion or let me know what you think!</p> <!--EndFragment-->MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-36078069671033126632010-08-26T20:51:00.002-06:002010-08-26T20:57:38.026-06:00Why not relive?At a video session this week, we stumbled across this Youtube channel while looking for a specific race from the Olympics. It has the majority (if not all) of the events from the games in full without commercials. I watched a few, and thought it would be worth sharing. February was a pretty amazing month for Canada and its worth looking back and reliving some of the moments that made the whole country so proud.<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/olympicvancouver2010">http://www.youtube.com/user/olympicvancouver2010</a></div><div><br /></div><div>First post in a while. Check back for more, hopefully soon enough. </div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-12061590868254520972010-02-18T06:56:00.003-07:002010-02-18T07:01:48.045-07:00Jessica GreggCongrats to my teammate Jess on her 4th (ya I know...she'll probably be the first one to tell you that 4th isn't ideal) last night in the 500m at the Olympics. But she did race very well and we are all happy for her!<div><br /></div><div>If anyone wants to know more about Jess, check out this video I shot of her back in the fall.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre; "><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z4bkLA7eiBw&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z4bkLA7eiBw&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>P.S If anyone who reads this blog is from Old Dutch, hook Jess up!</div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434607990418640464.post-73429558658994806752010-02-08T17:59:00.002-07:002010-02-08T18:17:17.941-07:00An Article- No more Hero WorshipI came across this article today. It was written by American x-c skier Kris Freeman on the Fasterskier website. Kris has an interesting message, and one that I think can be applied to short track. I doubt there is any skater out there who has not compared what they do and how they do it to Korean skaters. It is important to learn from the best, but also important to realize that Canadians don't need to do exactly what the Koreans do to win. We can learn from them, analyze and be better!<div><br /></div><div>Take a read:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; ">"I check fasterskier regularly because I love this sport and there are frequently informative updates and news on the website. Over the past few years it has become a legitimate, unbiased site that has moved away from worshiping Norway, Finland or whatever other country was having dominate results at the time.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; ">As the most popular xc skiing site in North America I think this is very important. Developing athletes should know what is going on in the skiing world without the mythical context that used to plague much of North America’s xc ski journalism.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; ">When I was coming up as a junior I heard rumors that American skiers couldn’t ski Bjorn Daehlie’s 10k pace for 100 meters. I heard that US skiers could never again achieve what Bill Koch did in 1976. I heard about incredible training plans that the Scandanavians followed, 1200 hours with level four intervals everyday etc. These rumors made believing that a US skier could be a red group skier let alone a world or Olympic medalist difficult to believe.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; ">At my first Olympics in Utah what I learned about international ski racing is that all of my competitors are just men. They train, they race, some win, some lose but they are all just men.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; ">This realization was very important to my subsequent racing career. I was able to ignore over-blown hype about mythical Norseman and German “ski-gods.” I could focus on real training plans and focus my energy on succeeding at the highest level.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; ">Over the past decade I have seen the xc-skiing climate in America change as more and more racers have seen through the fog of hype that has surrounded international racing. Clear focus has enabled the US Ski Team to post stronger and stronger results. There is no more excitement around simply scoring world cup points. The excitement is gone from a top 20 finish. A top 10 is met with congratulations but only a medal is met with true jubilation as it was for Kikkan last year in Liberec. This is the way it should be.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; ">XC skiing in America holds itself to higher standing than it has in several decades. It could be seen this past weekend in Canmore when the nations group wasn’t here to gawk or spectate but to put there heads down and race. I saw a focus and confidence from our skiers that I have not seen in my nine years with the ski team. I hope every skier in the US will have this kind of focus soon. There is no more time for hero worship, its time to become heroes ourselves."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; "><br /></p></span></div>MGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271819783022848565noreply@blogger.com7